Anyone familiar with the SECAM format in VCRs? There's a VHS tape in SECAM I want, but I don't have the player for it. I'd like to be able to play it on my NTSC VCR if I could but I doubt it. Seems like I'd have to buy one, but I want to know if there are any alternatives to try before I do.
you have few option, got world region converter player Panasonic AG-W1 or W2 or use JVC mutil region playback player some Samsung VHS+DVD also work or send me (Hong Kong) I help you convert to data upload back
SECAM was a European (French?) thing if I remember correctly... My Panasonic VHS recorder will handle SECAM tapes as well as PAL (I am in the UK) If I remember correctly the recorder actually outputs PAL60 from a SECAM tape..... I can capture and convert to DVD - NTSC or PAL and return them with your tape if you have no other options?
SECAM is indeed French. It's a 50Hz format, with a specific color format and you will obviously need a player capable of playing these tapes, there is no workaround.
There are also two different and mutually incompatible VHS tape formats for SECAM - one (used in France) divides down the color carrier to record it on the tape and the other (used in the Middle East and Eastern Europe) downconverts the signal using mixing, like a PAL VHS machine. The second format is sometimes referred to as "MESECAM" - but the tapes are often not marked, and will play back in monochrome only on a real (I.E. French) SECAM machine.
